Delivery Hospitalization Cardiac and Respiratory Complications during SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Dominance.

In 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant rapidly proliferated and became dominant. Some but not all research evidence supports that Delta was associated with increased maternal risk. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Delta was associated with risk for cardiac and respiratory complications in a national sample. Of an estimated 3,495,188 delivery hospitalizations in 2021, 1.8% of pre-Delta deliveries (n=29,580) (January-June) and 2.1% of Delta-period deliveries (n=37,545) (July-December) had a COVID-19 diagnosis. The Delta period was associated with increased adjusted odds of respiratory complications (aOR 1.54, 95% CI 1.41, 1.69) and cardiac SMM (aOR 1.54, 95% CI 1.40, 1.69). Among deliveries with a COVID diagnosis, the Delta period was associated with higher incidence of respiratory complications (8.4% versus 3.7%) and cardiac SMM (8.4% versus 3.5%) (p<0.01 for both). These findings corroborate prior clinical studies suggesting that the Delta strain was associated with an increased maternal population-level clinical burden.
Competing Interests: Dr. Wen serves as a consultant on the medical advisory board for Delfina, Inc. Dr. Friedman is supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1UG3HD111247, 1R01HD104943, and other grants) however this funding was not used to support this research. Dr. Friedman has served on an advisory board for Sage and Biogen.
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